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Plays Unpleasant
With the plays in this 1898 collection- Widower's Houses , The Philanderer , and Mrs. Warren's Profession -Shaw challenges his audiences' moral complacency in the face of serious social problems and inequities. Author George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) was one of the most prolific writers of the modern theater. He invented the modern comedy of ideas, expounding on social and political problems with a razor-sharp tongue, yet never sacrificing the comic vitality that ensures regular revivals of his plays. He also wrote several important political works, including The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism .Dan H. Lawrence, edited Shaw's Collected Letters, his Collected Plays with their Prefaces , and Shaw's Music and (with Daniel Leary) The Complete Prefaces . He is Series Editor for the works of Shaw in Penguin.David Edgar is a playwright, critic, and professor of Playwriting Studies at the University of Birmingham.
288 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1898
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About the author
George Bernard Shaw
2,000 books4,126 followersGeorge Bernard Shaw stands as one of the most prolific and influential intellectuals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a man whose literary output was matched only by his fervent commitment to social reform. Rising from a modest background in Dublin to become a global icon of letters, Shaw redefined the purpose of the stage, transforming it from a place of mere entertainment into a forum for rigorous intellectual debate and moral inquiry. His unique "Shavian" style—characterized by sharp-witted dialogue, paradoxical reasoning, and a relentless assault on Victorian hypocrisy—ensured that his voice resonated far beyond the footlights. As a playwright, critic, and philosopher, he remains a singular figure in history, being one of only two individuals to have been honored with both a Nobel Prize in Literature and an Academy Award. This rare crossover of high-art recognition and mainstream cinematic success speaks to his versatility and the enduring relevance of his narratives. His dramatic work, which includes over sixty plays, often tackled the most pressing issues of his day, from the rigid structures of the British class system to the complexities of gender roles and the ethical dilemmas of capitalism. In masterpieces like Pygmalion, he used the science of phonetics to demonstrate the artificiality of class distinctions, a theme that would later reach millions through the musical adaptation My Fair Lady. In Man and Superman, he delved into the philosophical concepts of the "Life Force" and the evolution of the human spirit, while Major Barbara forced audiences to confront the uncomfortable relationship between religious idealism and the industrial military complex. Beyond his theatrical achievements, Shaw was a foundational force in political thought, serving as a leading light of the Fabian Society. His advocacy for gradual socialist reform, rather than violent revolution, helped shape the trajectory of modern British politics and social welfare. He was instrumental in the creation of the London School of Economics, an institution that continues to influence global policy and economic theory. Shaw was also a formidable critic, whose reviews of music and drama set new standards for the profession, characterized by an uncompromising honesty and a deep knowledge of the arts. His personal lifestyle was as distinctive as his writing; a committed vegetarian, teetotaler, and non-smoker, he lived with a disciplined focus that allowed him to remain productive well into his ninth decade. He was a man of contradictions, often engaging in provocative public discourse that challenged the status quo, even when his views sparked intense controversy. His fascination with the "Superman" archetype and his occasional support for authoritarian figures reflected a complex, often elitist worldview that sought the betterment of humanity through radical intellectual evolution. Despite these complexities, his core mission was always rooted in a profound humanitarianism and a desire to expose the delusions that prevented society from progressing. He believed that the power of the written word could strip away the masks of respectability that hid social injustice, and his plays continue to be staged worldwide because the human foibles he satirized remain as prevalent today as they were during his lifetime. By blending humor with gravity and intellect with accessibility, Shaw created a body of work that serves as both a mirror and a compass for modern civilization. His legacy is not just in the scripts he left behind, but in the very way we think about the intersection of art, politics, and the individual’s responsibility to the collective good. He remains the quintessential public intellectual, a man who never feared to speak his mind or to demand that the world become a more rational and equitable place.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 35 reviews
March 20, 2016
Read this for my romanticism course at university. Really enjoyed the messages of the plays and how Shaw challenged society and their rules/pre-conceptions of marriage and women.
52 books around the year challenge: 15) A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
52 books around the year challenge: 15) A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
February 6, 2023
Just astounding that two of Shaw's earliest plays are so instantly mesmerizing, and are still so relevant and readable today, while written in the 1880s and 90s. It has to be admitted that these are not Shaw's best prefaces (they are of largely historical interest, might as well be skipped) and that The Philanderer is an awful play, but I'll cut the man some slack for coming out of the gate swinging with Widowers' Houses, which you'd hardly have to update to make it fresh in 2023. A major player in theater announcing himself.
October 15, 2023
After loving Mrs Warren's Profession, I decided to read Shaw's edition of his three earliest plays plus prefaces. All three are impressive for their bold attack on Victorian hypocrisy. The Philanderer has aged the least well and Mrs Warren's Profession is definitely the strongest of the three dramatically.
June 20, 2012
Originally published on my blog here in February 2000.
The three plays in this volume, Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer and Mrs Warren's Profession, are Shaw's earliest plays. Considered extremely daring at the time - it proved impossible to produce Mrs Warren's Profession for over twenty years - they can still in places shock us today. Each play is a blatant attack on Victorian society, on the hypocrisy of those who believe themselves morally blameless yet condemn the poor to live in degrading squalor and then live off the money this produces. This is clearest in Widowers' Houses (about slum landlords) and Mrs Warren's Profession (prostitution); The Philanderer is about attitudes to women, and has dated rather more.
The plot of Widowers' Houses is the simplest. Harry Trench falls in love with a girl he meets on holiday in Germany. Accepting her father's description of the source of his income as the respectable "property", they get engaged. Then Trench discovers that the property in question is one of London's most unpleasant slums and is horrified, and eventually he is astounded when it is revealed that his own wealth comes from the interest on a mortgage on the property. The idea is that even the most respectable are not far removed from the immoral and degrading, and this is also the central idea in Mrs Warren's Profession.
Though today most of the Victorian slums in Britain have long been cleared, prostitution is still a surprisingly important part of the economy. Shaw's message, though, is perhaps better applied in other areas. In the West, our relatively affluent lifestyles are to an extent dependant on the poverty of the Third World. People starve not just while our supermarkets are full, but to keep them full. Without the arms trade vital to the economy of many Western nations, much suffering would be eased. Pornography continues to degrade both those involved in making it and those addicted to it, while making fortunes.
Shaw manages to avoid the pitfall of preachiness which traps so many who write fiction to support a campaign, except perhaps in The Philanderer. The central location of this play is the fictional Ibsen Club, which stands for everything progressive in society. Today Ibsenism is an obsolete word, and it is clearer that Ibsen wrote about far more than Shaw thought, blinded as he was by his own social agenda. But at the turn of the century, plays like An Enemy of the People, Ghosts and (above all) A Doll's House seemed iconoclastic attacks on injustice in society. Ibsen was the subject of violent denunciation for the immorality seen in his plays (to the extent that he had to write an alternative happy ending to The Dollshouse before it could be performed in Germany), and this is what attracted Shaw the social campaigner. These plays are far simpler than Ibsen's, and much more obviously making a non-dramatic point. Their effect was much the same, and Shaw (unlike Ibsen) revelled in it.
The three plays in this volume, Widowers' Houses, The Philanderer and Mrs Warren's Profession, are Shaw's earliest plays. Considered extremely daring at the time - it proved impossible to produce Mrs Warren's Profession for over twenty years - they can still in places shock us today. Each play is a blatant attack on Victorian society, on the hypocrisy of those who believe themselves morally blameless yet condemn the poor to live in degrading squalor and then live off the money this produces. This is clearest in Widowers' Houses (about slum landlords) and Mrs Warren's Profession (prostitution); The Philanderer is about attitudes to women, and has dated rather more.
The plot of Widowers' Houses is the simplest. Harry Trench falls in love with a girl he meets on holiday in Germany. Accepting her father's description of the source of his income as the respectable "property", they get engaged. Then Trench discovers that the property in question is one of London's most unpleasant slums and is horrified, and eventually he is astounded when it is revealed that his own wealth comes from the interest on a mortgage on the property. The idea is that even the most respectable are not far removed from the immoral and degrading, and this is also the central idea in Mrs Warren's Profession.
Though today most of the Victorian slums in Britain have long been cleared, prostitution is still a surprisingly important part of the economy. Shaw's message, though, is perhaps better applied in other areas. In the West, our relatively affluent lifestyles are to an extent dependant on the poverty of the Third World. People starve not just while our supermarkets are full, but to keep them full. Without the arms trade vital to the economy of many Western nations, much suffering would be eased. Pornography continues to degrade both those involved in making it and those addicted to it, while making fortunes.
Shaw manages to avoid the pitfall of preachiness which traps so many who write fiction to support a campaign, except perhaps in The Philanderer. The central location of this play is the fictional Ibsen Club, which stands for everything progressive in society. Today Ibsenism is an obsolete word, and it is clearer that Ibsen wrote about far more than Shaw thought, blinded as he was by his own social agenda. But at the turn of the century, plays like An Enemy of the People, Ghosts and (above all) A Doll's House seemed iconoclastic attacks on injustice in society. Ibsen was the subject of violent denunciation for the immorality seen in his plays (to the extent that he had to write an alternative happy ending to The Dollshouse before it could be performed in Germany), and this is what attracted Shaw the social campaigner. These plays are far simpler than Ibsen's, and much more obviously making a non-dramatic point. Their effect was much the same, and Shaw (unlike Ibsen) revelled in it.
Want to read
October 14, 2018The book contains three of Shaw's plays; Widow's House (about landlords), The Philanderer (about polyamorous relationships) and Mrs Warren's Profession (about prostitution). Each of Shaw's plays takes an unconventional look at cultural stigma; the views that were controversial back in 1894 and still so in 2016. My personal favourite was 'Tropical Comedy' The Philanderer about different groups of people all thinking they had the right morals yet they all contradicted each other. I will be looking out for Bernard Shaw and more of this works, because his ideas and creations are fantastic.
September 7, 2021
Shavian at its best! GBS's iconoclastic views resonates even today and is particularly felt so in the 2nd play- The Philanderer. Excellently elicited is the complex nature of humans and how easily it is dwindled. The best part of the book is ofcourse the sterling preface by the author himself.
November 1, 2021
Although it's called plays unpleasant, this was a pleasant acquaintance with George Bernard Shaw. The plays are the first in Shaws oeuvre, but they were directly daring and controversial. A style already becomes clear in the text, and it's funny, realistic and pleasant.
May 5, 2010
I read the plays but Shaw's prefaces were unreadable.
September 21, 2024
Plays Unpleasant (1898) by Bernard Shaw
Penguin Project 08: #561
Widowers' Houses (1892)
After reading Shaw's preface to these three plays I was slightly concerned that the socio-political language and contextual understanding seemingly required were going to render the plays themselves unreadable to me, however from the first scene of Widowers' Houses I felt in quite safe hands with his character writing. A good introduction to his views with the focus being on slum landlord Mr. Sartorius and his daughter Blanche, who abuses her servant, and how Trench, a poor doctor, wants to marry Blanche, but after discovering the source of her and her father's income refuses to anymore. I really love how modern-seeming the dialogue and relationship between Blanche and Trench is. It's very soapy and entertaining and doesn't read like how I would have imagined 1890s folk would talk. While I don't necessarily understand the scheme between Sartorius, Lickcheese, and Trench in the third act, I get the point of Trench succumbing to the unpleasant workings and enjoyed it for what it was.
The Philanderer (1893)
Despite no prior knowledge of Ibsen and the prefatory note not really filling in any gaps at all, this play was really rather enjoyable. The main chatacter is caught between two loce affairs, both of whom share his Ibsenist beliefs although to varying degrees, with one of then sharing his ideals on the disavowment of marriage and the other wanting to marry him despite this. The setting of a social club that only allows people in if they are neither a manly man nor a womanly woman is so dystopian and yet socialist during the 1890s. The dialogue reveals these really engaging sexual politics and a nice little animal testing subplot in there, too, with the scientist and one of the fathers, and all of the character interactions are a lot of fun to read.
Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893)
Definitely the densest of the three in terms of character development as a result of the topic at hand, specifically shown through the changing of the relationship between Mrs. Warren and Vivie. The way that their relationship seemingly grows closer once Vivie learns what her mother's titular profession was, but then completely ceases once she learns that the profession is still ongoing, is a very interesting turn of events. The male characters fill up the scenes nicely when Vivie and Mrs. Warren aren't stealing them, and give them both something to bounce off of. Shaw's dialogue is so enjoyable and fluid, and it's really a very enjoyable read. I'm especially looking forward to seeing a performed iteration of this one.
Penguin Project 08: #561
Widowers' Houses (1892)
After reading Shaw's preface to these three plays I was slightly concerned that the socio-political language and contextual understanding seemingly required were going to render the plays themselves unreadable to me, however from the first scene of Widowers' Houses I felt in quite safe hands with his character writing. A good introduction to his views with the focus being on slum landlord Mr. Sartorius and his daughter Blanche, who abuses her servant, and how Trench, a poor doctor, wants to marry Blanche, but after discovering the source of her and her father's income refuses to anymore. I really love how modern-seeming the dialogue and relationship between Blanche and Trench is. It's very soapy and entertaining and doesn't read like how I would have imagined 1890s folk would talk. While I don't necessarily understand the scheme between Sartorius, Lickcheese, and Trench in the third act, I get the point of Trench succumbing to the unpleasant workings and enjoyed it for what it was.
The Philanderer (1893)
Despite no prior knowledge of Ibsen and the prefatory note not really filling in any gaps at all, this play was really rather enjoyable. The main chatacter is caught between two loce affairs, both of whom share his Ibsenist beliefs although to varying degrees, with one of then sharing his ideals on the disavowment of marriage and the other wanting to marry him despite this. The setting of a social club that only allows people in if they are neither a manly man nor a womanly woman is so dystopian and yet socialist during the 1890s. The dialogue reveals these really engaging sexual politics and a nice little animal testing subplot in there, too, with the scientist and one of the fathers, and all of the character interactions are a lot of fun to read.
Mrs. Warren's Profession (1893)
Definitely the densest of the three in terms of character development as a result of the topic at hand, specifically shown through the changing of the relationship between Mrs. Warren and Vivie. The way that their relationship seemingly grows closer once Vivie learns what her mother's titular profession was, but then completely ceases once she learns that the profession is still ongoing, is a very interesting turn of events. The male characters fill up the scenes nicely when Vivie and Mrs. Warren aren't stealing them, and give them both something to bounce off of. Shaw's dialogue is so enjoyable and fluid, and it's really a very enjoyable read. I'm especially looking forward to seeing a performed iteration of this one.
September 12, 2024
I read this because it contained Mrs Warren’s Profession, and I’d recently read Ann Veronica by H. G. Wells, in which there were several allusions to it. Then because Mrs Warren’s Profession was so good, I read the other two plays as well: Widowers’ Houses and The Philanderer. I wasn’t very familiar with Shaw. I had the vague idea he was stuffy and didactic, but based on this volume, nothing could be further from the truth. Despite being more than a century old, these plays are startlingly modern: shocking, cynical, funny. There are some great parts for actors, and the brilliant dialogue is highly quotable; as Sir George Crofts, co-investor in a chain of European brothels, remarks to Mrs Warren’s daughter, who has been unknowingly brought up on the proceeds of the business:
As long as you don’t fly openly in the face of society, society doesn’t ask any inconvenient questions; and it makes precious short work of the cads who do. There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses.
Very, very occasionally there are moments where a present-day director might opt to sidestep the theatricality of Shaw’s choices; for example, in Widowers’ Houses, when Blanche Sartorius, insufficiently gentrified daughter of an unscrupulous rack-renter, physically attacks the family’s doting parlourmaid, the action feels too obvious and melodramatic a demonstration of her ineradicably low nature. Something might also need to be done for the ending of The Philanderer, which peters out in a tableau of the cast surrounding a fainting woman.
Overall though, these plays are tremendous: I especially liked the fact that nobody ‘wicked’ is ever really punished, at least not publicly (since they are behaving in accordance with society's precepts); privately, they may suffer for their decisions after the curtain falls, or then again, they may not. Shaw is criticizing the immorality of society, so it would make no sense to subject his characters to its self-serving notions of justice and morality. He writes in the Preface:
A word as to why I have labelled the three plays in this volume Unpleasant. The reason is pretty obvious: their dramatic power is used to force the spectator to face unpleasant facts. No doubt all plays which deal sincerely with humanity must wound the monstrous conceit which it is the business of romance to flatter.
As long as you don’t fly openly in the face of society, society doesn’t ask any inconvenient questions; and it makes precious short work of the cads who do. There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses.
Very, very occasionally there are moments where a present-day director might opt to sidestep the theatricality of Shaw’s choices; for example, in Widowers’ Houses, when Blanche Sartorius, insufficiently gentrified daughter of an unscrupulous rack-renter, physically attacks the family’s doting parlourmaid, the action feels too obvious and melodramatic a demonstration of her ineradicably low nature. Something might also need to be done for the ending of The Philanderer, which peters out in a tableau of the cast surrounding a fainting woman.
Overall though, these plays are tremendous: I especially liked the fact that nobody ‘wicked’ is ever really punished, at least not publicly (since they are behaving in accordance with society's precepts); privately, they may suffer for their decisions after the curtain falls, or then again, they may not. Shaw is criticizing the immorality of society, so it would make no sense to subject his characters to its self-serving notions of justice and morality. He writes in the Preface:
A word as to why I have labelled the three plays in this volume Unpleasant. The reason is pretty obvious: their dramatic power is used to force the spectator to face unpleasant facts. No doubt all plays which deal sincerely with humanity must wound the monstrous conceit which it is the business of romance to flatter.
October 31, 2025
In a time of censorship and widespread book-banning, it seemed the perfect time to revisit George Bernard Shaw's "Mrs. Warren's Profession," a masterpiece considered so shocking and dangerous--because of its ideas and its indictment of the status quo--that the 1894 play was banned from the British stage. Shaw would wait eight years to see his play performed in London, at a small theater club for two performances only in 1902; it would be 1924 before "Mrs. Warren's Profession" received a full professional production.
The play remains startlingly fresh, bold, and pertinent. So does Shaw's blistering preface to the work, in which he attacks the censorship that kept his play from being seen and discussed. "All censorship exists to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions," Shaw explains. "All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. There is the whole case against censorships in a nutshell."
The play remains startlingly fresh, bold, and pertinent. So does Shaw's blistering preface to the work, in which he attacks the censorship that kept his play from being seen and discussed. "All censorship exists to prevent anyone from challenging current conceptions and existing institutions," Shaw explains. "All progress is initiated by challenging current conceptions, and executed by supplanting existing institutions. Consequently the first condition of progress is the removal of censorships. There is the whole case against censorships in a nutshell."
April 12, 2021
First off, I really don't like reading plays so I had very low expectations. To make matters worse, these plays are over 100 years old. For the most part, I don't understand what's going on or why the characters are so upset and so easily scandalized. Imagine if these people were alive today and getting to hear songs on the radio cussing about bitches and hos. The scandal would kill them. The prefaces weren't much help either in understanding and the preface for Mrs Warren's Profession took longer to read than the play itself! The stories (from what I understood) were somewhat interesting although if I actually watched these plays in a theater it would probably put me to sleep. I do appreciate how he was trying to make a statement about the injustices of society. And these plays were much better than Waiting For Godot. So it wasn't a complete waste of time reading these.
Read
August 28, 2021I don't feel like giving this one a full review. I'm only going off of one actual play & most of my feelings can really be summed up as "meh". Vivie made her choice, the one she said she would from the beginning and that's kinda that. I get that she doesn't care to try and remedy the irreconcilable differences between her and her mother, that she can't help the fact that there's no real attachment between the two of them since Mrs. Warren has been so largely absent from her life. I don't love it, but I guess it makes sense. I don't blame Mrs. Warren for having lived the life she did either tho. But I think that's just the tragedy of it.
Okay that's it. I don't feel like saying any more. Except well I guess the men in this play are pretty useless for the most part. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Okay that's it. I don't feel like saying any more. Except well I guess the men in this play are pretty useless for the most part. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
July 6, 2025
The preface reads: “There are fifty ways of saying Yes, and five hundred of saying No, but only one way of writing them down” (p. xxiii). Although it doesn’t directly introduce the plays, this hints at the mind-boggling, creative, and humour-filled literature!
A couple of more quotes below which I feel accurately portray the depth:
“The sound of English makes me feel at home; and I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad” (p. 35).
“I love you because you brought me up to something better. I should hate you if you had not” (p. 85).
“Advanced people form charming friendships: conventional people marry; and its first duty is fidelity. Friendship suits some people; and its first duty is unhesitating uncomplaining acceptance of a notice of change of feeling from either side” (p. 108).
A couple of more quotes below which I feel accurately portray the depth:
“The sound of English makes me feel at home; and I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad” (p. 35).
“I love you because you brought me up to something better. I should hate you if you had not” (p. 85).
“Advanced people form charming friendships: conventional people marry; and its first duty is fidelity. Friendship suits some people; and its first duty is unhesitating uncomplaining acceptance of a notice of change of feeling from either side” (p. 108).
September 7, 2019
Mrs. Warren's Profession, in particular, remains completely relevant today, a century and a quarter after it was written. A brilliant, cutting analysis of the exploitation, shame, and hypocrisy surrounding women's work and sex work.
December 26, 2022
Intro: 5* A typical Shaw Essay
Widower's houses: 4* An Excellent play
The Philanderer: 3* This one requires some context and I needed to do some reading it about before I fully grasped it, it feels less contemporary than the other two.
Mrs. Warren's Profession: 5* Masterpiece
Widower's houses: 4* An Excellent play
The Philanderer: 3* This one requires some context and I needed to do some reading it about before I fully grasped it, it feels less contemporary than the other two.
Mrs. Warren's Profession: 5* Masterpiece
February 15, 2024
I enjoyed the first story Widowers’ Houses, and then hated The Philanderer. It was so long and boring that I ended up skipping it a few pages into Act 2 which I’m glad I did because I LOVED Mrs Warren’s Profession! So good and crazy to think of the year it was written and how it was received
March 28, 2024
I just read Mrs Warren’s Profession for class, it was so amazing! The writing was interesting, the characters are deeply complicated, and it holds a mirror to the hypocrisy of society. I really enjoyed it!
December 15, 2020
read mrs warren's profession, kind of love frank
March 17, 2024
Mrs Warren's Profession [page 213-286] 🎭
August 28, 2024
I preferred 'Plays Pleasant'; however, I recommend this compilation of plays. Once again, I read this book during my first year of acting school.
April 23, 2025
8/10
basically three plays about political economic injustice. very good and funny at times. i would rank them The Philanderer > Mrs Warren's Profession > Widowers' Houses
basically three plays about political economic injustice. very good and funny at times. i would rank them The Philanderer > Mrs Warren's Profession > Widowers' Houses
April 22, 2024
I've read just Widower's Houses and it was really exciting
Firstly, I do love reading plays, secondly, the message was clear and it was interesting to observe the development of the characters.
Firstly, I do love reading plays, secondly, the message was clear and it was interesting to observe the development of the characters.
February 5, 2016
Plays Unpleasant:-
WIDOWERS' HOUSES: -
In a way this play is a companion of Mrs. Warren's Profession, both about money earned by a parent through unsavoury means of varying questionable repute, of course this one being far more common than the other both in practice and held not so often repugnant by society - rich society that is - but morally no less, in fact in some ways more, reprehensible.
Mrs. Warren's profession is held in n good repute anywhere in the world, but it can be argued that most people in that profession are not in it from choice as much as from either being kidnapped and brought into it or from necessities of survival of a family which often when needed to be provided by a woman she might find little or almost no recourse. When one is safe, moralising about another's circumstance is all very well; it is likely to be another story when it is your own child's survival in question and you have not much of a choice.
This one is about rich people who earn their living by providing housing bordering on slum to the poor and then charging extortion level rents while providing little or no amenities, and evicting those that default at short notice without care about if they could in fact survive.
And yet most rich could hardly stand a scrutiny about the roots of their wealth - if it is not opium or colonial (robbery) it might be something akin to this, or worse - it might be selling things that actually damage those that pay for them. Not just illegal substances, either - often legal substances can be just as bad for health, even lethal, and yet they take time to become known as dangerous or worthless at best. Even today that is true of much that forms multibillion industries, in much misused names of fun or beauty.
.....................
THE PHILANDERER: -
Women - and too, enlightened men - were in favour of womens' education, property and voting rights, enfranchisement, suffragists demanding and chaining themselves. many identified these movements with left for obvious reasons - it seemed against interest of any conservatives to lose any source of free labour, and women just as slaves or colonial possessions were source of it.
But most people also misunderstood womens' liberty and freedom first and foremost in the wrongest possible direction - one that would actually benefit men. Some people saw it coming and they were not all against womens' rights - and Mr. Shaw was one such man.
With women free, and access to women granted freely to any man, those that had no honourable intentions were in heaven. They could play with womens' hearts and discard them - all in name of womens' freedom, since the misunderstanding was, it was about no chaperone watching over to make sure their real important rights were guarded - those related to just such men not destroying hearts and lives.
This is the story of just such a woman who has a heart and would hide it behind talk of freedom, so she can try to attract one playing with her heart, her subsequent - or even, consequent - heartbreak when it is clear he never had any intention that could be then called honourable (now the word has gone out of usage, almost), and the philanderer who nevertheless sees what havoc he has wreaked, with clear eyes.
.........................
MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION: -
Age old dilemma of society - "respectable"vs. the other side, and the need of one for the other. It must have of course been extremely controversial when it was written - and published - but this writer was always more than equal to any criticism and could always argue either side of a debate with reason.
This one is not a comedy, though, and one is presented with Mrs. Warren's side quite reasonably.
Friday, July 9, 2010.
WIDOWERS' HOUSES: -
In a way this play is a companion of Mrs. Warren's Profession, both about money earned by a parent through unsavoury means of varying questionable repute, of course this one being far more common than the other both in practice and held not so often repugnant by society - rich society that is - but morally no less, in fact in some ways more, reprehensible.
Mrs. Warren's profession is held in n good repute anywhere in the world, but it can be argued that most people in that profession are not in it from choice as much as from either being kidnapped and brought into it or from necessities of survival of a family which often when needed to be provided by a woman she might find little or almost no recourse. When one is safe, moralising about another's circumstance is all very well; it is likely to be another story when it is your own child's survival in question and you have not much of a choice.
This one is about rich people who earn their living by providing housing bordering on slum to the poor and then charging extortion level rents while providing little or no amenities, and evicting those that default at short notice without care about if they could in fact survive.
And yet most rich could hardly stand a scrutiny about the roots of their wealth - if it is not opium or colonial (robbery) it might be something akin to this, or worse - it might be selling things that actually damage those that pay for them. Not just illegal substances, either - often legal substances can be just as bad for health, even lethal, and yet they take time to become known as dangerous or worthless at best. Even today that is true of much that forms multibillion industries, in much misused names of fun or beauty.
.....................
THE PHILANDERER: -
Women - and too, enlightened men - were in favour of womens' education, property and voting rights, enfranchisement, suffragists demanding and chaining themselves. many identified these movements with left for obvious reasons - it seemed against interest of any conservatives to lose any source of free labour, and women just as slaves or colonial possessions were source of it.
But most people also misunderstood womens' liberty and freedom first and foremost in the wrongest possible direction - one that would actually benefit men. Some people saw it coming and they were not all against womens' rights - and Mr. Shaw was one such man.
With women free, and access to women granted freely to any man, those that had no honourable intentions were in heaven. They could play with womens' hearts and discard them - all in name of womens' freedom, since the misunderstanding was, it was about no chaperone watching over to make sure their real important rights were guarded - those related to just such men not destroying hearts and lives.
This is the story of just such a woman who has a heart and would hide it behind talk of freedom, so she can try to attract one playing with her heart, her subsequent - or even, consequent - heartbreak when it is clear he never had any intention that could be then called honourable (now the word has gone out of usage, almost), and the philanderer who nevertheless sees what havoc he has wreaked, with clear eyes.
.........................
MRS WARREN'S PROFESSION: -
Age old dilemma of society - "respectable"vs. the other side, and the need of one for the other. It must have of course been extremely controversial when it was written - and published - but this writer was always more than equal to any criticism and could always argue either side of a debate with reason.
This one is not a comedy, though, and one is presented with Mrs. Warren's side quite reasonably.
Friday, July 9, 2010.
April 28, 2015
Three plays about unpleasant men
13 April 2011
Bernard Shaw excels himself once again. Okay, one might ask what is a Christian doing reading Bernard Shaw. Well, ever since I read Pygmalion I have simply loved his work, and in fact he is one of the best modern playwrights to have ever walked this earth. His plays are well structured, characters very realistic, and themes very topical. The theme that seems to run through most of his plays deals with the rights of a woman. To understand this theme one does need to understand the context in which these plays were written.
My Dad had a quick read of one of the prologues to these plays and noticed his comment upon marriage, which immediately confirmed our suspicions that Shaw was not a Christian. However he is not antagonistic towards Christianity, and his Christian characters in the plays are not evil or manipulative. In fact, many of them are very noble characters. However, it is to the theme of marriage which we will look because that is the key to understanding Shaw's attitude towards women.
Simply put, Shaw considers marriage to be little more than white slavery. Once again we need to understand the cultural context. His plays were written around the turn of the 20th Century in England, and if you were a women in that time you had no rights whatsoever. This is the key to the final play in this book 'Mrs Warren's Profession'. The prologue is an explanation as to the play, because the play itself is about prostitution. As he explains, unless a women were to get married she would either live her life as a pauper or a prostitute. If the woman had money she could not hold onto it - she had to get married, and when she did the rights of all her property would instantly transfer to the husband.
It is the male characters in these plays who are unpleasant. The first play, The Widower's House, is about a landlord. Is he dodgy? It is questionable as he defends his actions by saying that if he were to properly maintain his houses then the poor who live in them would not be able to live in them. Therefore he believes that he is providing a community service, albeit a suspicious one. The male in the second play, The Philanderer, is much more unpleasant. The play opens with him sleeping with one woman, and rejecting the advances of a second, and closes with him losing both of them. He only becomes interested in the second woman when she decides she wants to marry another man. At the end of the play we have no sympathy for him - he brought it all upon himself. As he said, he will always be a philanderer (the English definition, not the Greek), and he does not say this with pride, but with regret.
While the theme of two of the Plays Unpleasant are with the treatment of women, the theme of the Widower's House is of the exploitation of the working class. Further, the man who, at the beginning of the play, ends an engagement over dirty money made from a slumlord ends up selling his soul in a business dealing and marrying anyway.
It is also noteworthy that despite Shaw's polemic against the institution of marriage, he did end up having a long and happy marriage. I guess it had to do with his desire not to behave like the society that he spent his life criticising,
13 April 2011
Bernard Shaw excels himself once again. Okay, one might ask what is a Christian doing reading Bernard Shaw. Well, ever since I read Pygmalion I have simply loved his work, and in fact he is one of the best modern playwrights to have ever walked this earth. His plays are well structured, characters very realistic, and themes very topical. The theme that seems to run through most of his plays deals with the rights of a woman. To understand this theme one does need to understand the context in which these plays were written.
My Dad had a quick read of one of the prologues to these plays and noticed his comment upon marriage, which immediately confirmed our suspicions that Shaw was not a Christian. However he is not antagonistic towards Christianity, and his Christian characters in the plays are not evil or manipulative. In fact, many of them are very noble characters. However, it is to the theme of marriage which we will look because that is the key to understanding Shaw's attitude towards women.
Simply put, Shaw considers marriage to be little more than white slavery. Once again we need to understand the cultural context. His plays were written around the turn of the 20th Century in England, and if you were a women in that time you had no rights whatsoever. This is the key to the final play in this book 'Mrs Warren's Profession'. The prologue is an explanation as to the play, because the play itself is about prostitution. As he explains, unless a women were to get married she would either live her life as a pauper or a prostitute. If the woman had money she could not hold onto it - she had to get married, and when she did the rights of all her property would instantly transfer to the husband.
It is the male characters in these plays who are unpleasant. The first play, The Widower's House, is about a landlord. Is he dodgy? It is questionable as he defends his actions by saying that if he were to properly maintain his houses then the poor who live in them would not be able to live in them. Therefore he believes that he is providing a community service, albeit a suspicious one. The male in the second play, The Philanderer, is much more unpleasant. The play opens with him sleeping with one woman, and rejecting the advances of a second, and closes with him losing both of them. He only becomes interested in the second woman when she decides she wants to marry another man. At the end of the play we have no sympathy for him - he brought it all upon himself. As he said, he will always be a philanderer (the English definition, not the Greek), and he does not say this with pride, but with regret.
While the theme of two of the Plays Unpleasant are with the treatment of women, the theme of the Widower's House is of the exploitation of the working class. Further, the man who, at the beginning of the play, ends an engagement over dirty money made from a slumlord ends up selling his soul in a business dealing and marrying anyway.
It is also noteworthy that despite Shaw's polemic against the institution of marriage, he did end up having a long and happy marriage. I guess it had to do with his desire not to behave like the society that he spent his life criticising,
June 17, 2012
George Bernard Shaw has done it again. I got to know GBS's works through performances at the Washington (DC) Stage Guild in the 1990s. What depth of insight. And never a dearth of words. I think he might be one of the world's greatest playwrights, equaling and at times surpassing, Shakespeare. It doesn't hurt that Shaw's take on society, politics and economics meld with many of my own, but I think that he gets to the heart of things quickly and in a way that the reader might not have expected. Drawing the reader (or viewer) in, he sets you up to like one person and dislike the other. Then, the curtain is pulled back and you realize that maybe the one you like isn't as clean as you thought and maybe the evil one isn't quite as two-dimensionally villainous as you assumed.
Plays Unpleasant consists of three plays that are "unpleasant" only in that they confront the viewer with a serious social or economic problem yet without a comedic factor to soften the blow. I really loved The Widowers' House. Then I liked Mrs. Warren's Profession. I wasn't a huge fan of The Philanderer, but I wonder if that would come across better as a performance rather than a read-through.
Shaw's prefaces are sometimes difficult to read but they are worth the effort. The one to Mrs Warren's Profession is just as insightful in 2012 as it was in 1902 (revised 1930). In reference to those who sought to ban performances of that play, he wrote, "No doubt it is equally possible that they were simply stupid men who thought that indecency consists, not in evil, but in mentioning it."
I highly recommend this book. The only people who might take legitimate umbrage with GBS are those actors who have to memorize the massive amount of words!
Plays Unpleasant consists of three plays that are "unpleasant" only in that they confront the viewer with a serious social or economic problem yet without a comedic factor to soften the blow. I really loved The Widowers' House. Then I liked Mrs. Warren's Profession. I wasn't a huge fan of The Philanderer, but I wonder if that would come across better as a performance rather than a read-through.
Shaw's prefaces are sometimes difficult to read but they are worth the effort. The one to Mrs Warren's Profession is just as insightful in 2012 as it was in 1902 (revised 1930). In reference to those who sought to ban performances of that play, he wrote, "No doubt it is equally possible that they were simply stupid men who thought that indecency consists, not in evil, but in mentioning it."
I highly recommend this book. The only people who might take legitimate umbrage with GBS are those actors who have to memorize the massive amount of words!
March 4, 2008
Perceptive and ahead of its times.
November 26, 2008
3 good plays from one of the most distinguished writers. I liked The Philanderer, Widowers' Houses and Mrs Warren's Profession- in that order.
Read
February 17, 2009Definitely early plays. Glad I read it, because I'm interested in Shaw, but I didn't love any of the plays.
August 16, 2013
I liked it a lot.
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